Ideas on breaking large sized bark chunks

[sweta]

Hi Orchid Pals,

I recently ordered medium sized pine bark MWP brand and what I got was instead large sized. Each bark chunk is around 2-3 inches wide. Any ideas on how I can break these down into smaller chunks. I want to be able to use it for my phals. The large chunks form large air pockets in the pot not sure if that is ok.

Thanks,
Sweta

[dbarron]

Sounds pretty tedious to me, but you can do it. I think I'd probably just use as is and adjust my watering practices to be more often.
Well, actually, I'd probably try to buy proper sized media.

[Ray]

Contact the vendor and have them send you what you ordered.

While having air pockets in the potting medium is a good thing, those created by chunks that big would require way too much watering.

[Roberta]

Save the big stuff for Catts, and get smaller bark. I'm with Ray on that one, the vendor needs to send you what you ordered. They goofed.

[sweta]

@dbarron I usually order medium sized orchiata bark which is perfect size. This is the first time I wanted to try another brand and the chunks looked way too big for what they described as medium sized pine bark.

@Ray yes will contact the vendor.

Its definitely a challenge to keep up watering often as air is pretty dry inside our house during winter. So might have to return the bag.

Thank you for your responses.

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

Save the big stuff for Catts, and get smaller bark. I'm with Ray on that one, the vendor needs to send you what you ordered. They goofed.

Ok thats good to know Roberta that big sized chunks can be used for catts. I was wondering what was the purpose of selling large sized bark chunks.

[Roberta]

That big stuff would be fine for full-sized Catts (not seedlings or windowsill-sized minis). In fact, it's hard to find large-enough bark for those big Catts... the largest Orchiata tends to have a lot of medium-sized bark mixed in.

[estación seca]

I think a lot of people here would like to know where to get such large bark chunks. Could you tell us the name of the vendor?

[sweta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I think a lot of people here would like to know where to get such large bark chunks. Could you tell us the name of the vendor?

I ordered the bark from orchidsupplystore.com about 2 months ago. I just checked and it looks like the medium sized chunks are no longer available and they have only the small and extra small. I have always ordered medium/small sized orchiata bark from this site and have been extremely satisfied with the quality and also love the free plastic pots with the order. I've been happy with their customer care as well, they are very prompt in responding to queries.